Mitt Romney’s New Pitch: He Stopped “The Las Vegas Of Gay Marriage”

Republican Presidential front-runner Mitt Romney campaigned in Mesa, Arizona Monday and attempting to appeal the social conservatives wing, voters he will need to carry to win the nomination, Romney added a new line to stump touting his socially conservative record.

The former governor said to the packed crowd “We’re able to enforce, I think it was a 1913 law, that kept Massachuetes from becoming the Las Vegas of same sex marriage.”

Romney first used the line at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington last weekend.

Following Romney’s comments in Mesa, GOProud executive director Jimmy LaSalvia, told BuzzFeed in an email “Governor Romney is making a huge strategic mistake. Tea Partiers and limited government conservatives continue to have reservations about his campaign but those reservations have nothing to do with gay marriage or Las Vegas. Instead of talking to conservatives about their concerns about Romneycare, he has chosen to play into the hands of the left who want a culture war because they can’t defend this President’s failed economic record.”

Romney’s comments highlight a new pitch to socially conservative Republicans as the former Governor continues to tout his socially conservative record in recent days. Romney is widely mistrusted by the socially conservative base of the party and the his shift shows Romney is looking ahead to states dominated by Evangelical voters.